Cakes, Cakes, Cakes

Cupcakes. I am in love. They are not so good for the waist but fabulous on the tastebuds and definitely go someway to satisfying my creative cravings. I've posted a lot of pictures on my facebook profile recently, so if you're bored of my cupcakery then this probably isn't the post for you.

I've always been a home cook and I love entertaining, although I don't do as much now as I used to. Having two small kids will do that though, plus it's expensive whichever way you do it, and I want to do it properly, using the best ingredients I can manage and doing as much as I can from scratch.It's all got a bit easy recently though. I lost my way a little during the course of the past couple of years - once again, two under 3s will do that. Since having Megan Bee earlier this year though, I'm back on it. Barely a week goes by that I'm not lusting over a new piece of kitchen kit or marking must cook recipes in my ever expanding collection of books. My girl crush on Nigella has reached a new level - I'm now buying old books of hers to add to my collection, and I only need a couple more to complete it.

Baking is something new though. Puddings I can do, cream puffs and pavlovas are old territory for me. Cake making is new. It started around the time of Heather's birthday when I wanted to make her birthday cake, and I decided on a Hungry Caterpillar cake, then for her 2nd birthday I wanted to make her a Dora cake. Since then I've been lusting over my friend, Jenna's cupcake decorating skills and thinking, I want some of that and anyone who knows me will telly ou that the moment I decide I'm going to master something, I am unstoppable. Cupcakes are coming out of my ears at the moment! Once I mastered a good plain or chocolate sponge, cupcakes were the next step and you know what? I am very pleased with the results. My sponge is as good as any I've tasted out and about and my frosting is soft and creamy unlike the frosting at Three Steps to Heaven, as sampled and reviewed by Lis a couple of weeks ago (I can't speak highly enough of their cold stone ice cream though, well worth a return visit for that if not their cupcakes). My plan is to perfect my piping, and experiment with my flavours more. Current favourites are Doouble Chocolate Cherry and the 99 (above left), my Vanilla Flowers, (bottom left) and my Starry Marathons (bottom right). Who knows if anything will come of it, but everyone has to start somewhere. Who knows, maybe I'll be opening Mama Bee's Little Bakery in the future. In the meatime though, should you want a batch of cupcakes for an occasion and you like what you see, you know where to find me...